Took off from RAF Ludford Magna at 21:34 tasked for ABC duties.
The aircraft was shot down by the night fighter crew of Unteroffizier Frankenhauser & Unteroffizier Biank of the 1./NJG 1, who were flying a Heinkel He 219 A-0 from Venlo airfield in the Netherlands. The German pilot recorded in his Leistungsbuch: “Attack from below at 100 metres’ range. Fire in fuselage. Peeled off over the port wing and crashed in a steep dive”.
The two airmen who died are buried in Heverlee War Cemetery. 19 yr old Sgt Hans Heinz Schwarz was the specialist operator.
His parents, Eric and Elli Schwarz lived in Cricklewood, and to disguise his German origins he served under the name of Blake: